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Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Photo By Ross Stone

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Blue Heron Yellow Sagebrush” by Ross Stone. Location: Big Pine, California.

“I was down along the canal and this heron was spooked by me driving by and took flight,” explains Stone. “I grabbed my camera, jumped out of the car and watched as the heron circled around then flew off to the Owens River.”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Photo By Mike Rowe

“In September and October in the United Kingdom, the red deer stags compete for hinds in the annual rut,” explains Mike Rowe. “To make themselves appear larger and more impressive, they often sweep their antlers through long grass and bracken to collect vegetation. This stag had obviously mastered the technique. This photo was taken in Richmond Park near London.”

See more of Mike Rowe’s work at mikerowephoto.com.

Canon EOS 50D, Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM. Exposure: 1/500 sec., ƒ/2.8, ISO 400.

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DJI’s newest drone, the Mavic 3, introduces a big advance in image quality for serious photographers and filmmakers. The imaging system is designed and built by Hasselblad, and the drone includes two cameras. The primary camera features a large (for a drone) 4/3 CMOS sensor and a 24mm equivalent lens with adjustable apertures from ƒ/2.8 to ƒ/11. The camera can record 20-megapixel stills and 5.1K video with Apple ProRes. The second camera is a telephoto (162mm equivalent) for scouting or shots from a distance to avoid disturbing your subject.

Pro nature photographer Stefan Forster was among the photographers who got to beta test the Mavic 3, and he captured some stunning scenes from the skies above Iceland in this video.

Though the Mavic 3 isn’t inexpensive if you’re only casually interested in working with drones, this video may inspire you to want to give it a try. You can rent the Mavic 3 instead of buying—something to consider if you have a photography trip planned to an epic location.

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Monday, November 29, 2021

Photo By Craig Bill

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Land of the Lost” by Craig Bill. Location: Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

“Rain greeted my arrival into Oneonta Gorge located with the Columbia River Gorge natural area,” explains Bill. “My short hike into this absolutely beautiful world was met with some concern. First, the trail starting into the Gorge is made of a cold stream. So it was cold, wet and rainy, but that didn’t discourage me a bit about visiting this area for the first time. Previous travel photos I had seen of the Columbia River Gorge lured me across the country to this spot. And my sense of adventure was totally peaked. Next, now that I was wet, I had to climb a 20-foot fallen log dam. This wooden barrier was completely slick with very little places to grab onto. One fall here and this trip would be over! Carefully, I balanced and crawled with my 40-pound back pack. I remember thinking that I should have secured some equipment insurance before I came here!

“Beyond the climbing obstacle, the water wonderland gorge opened up to meet me. Just magical! Quiet and commanding, this place is to be returned to. Although someone had warned me, I was terrified by the occasional falling rocks from above. In fact, a 20-pound rock landed a few feet away—and that would have ended this trip for certain for me or the camera! While capturing various angles of this emerald green abyss, I would have to wipe my lens every time, or it became so soaked that the images were ruined!”

See more of Craig Bill’s photography at CraigBill.com.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Nature photography breaks down into two main entities: scenics and wildlife. To capture the grandeur of a landscape is something to which nature photographers aspire. The same holds true for a magnificent creature created by mother nature when it’s preserved onto a digital sensor. When I first got into nature photography, I gravitated toward the scenic. I’ve since transitioned more into the world of wildlife, but I’ll never turn down the opportunity to capture a magnificent landscape in phenomenal light with majestic clouds and iconic structural formations.

I began to travel around the U.S. and pointed my car in many directions. Western landscapes came to be a favorite as did the seascapes of the Pacific. The rolling hills of New England in the fall certainly grabbed my attention as did the red rock country of the Colorado Plateau. The vast open space of each of these areas often left me in visual awe. That one aspect that often left a dilemma each time I looked at my images is I didn’t want to leave viewers wondering just how sprawling these locations were. I needed to add a reference subject from which a comparison could be made to show a size relationship. Scale could then be put into perspective and give the viewer a clue to the immensity of the scene.

Perceived scale is introduced into an image to include a point of reference that’s commonly known to man. Familiarity of known subjects allows this to occur. Canyonlands is an immense and sprawling location in Utah. Unless you physically stand at a viewpoint to absorb its size, it’s difficult for a viewer of a photo to comprehend its vastness. Trees and bushes allow for a size relationship to be established, but they are few and far between in the area. It’s with this in mind I asked one of my tour participants to pose in the scene so I could show scale. Of particular note in the accompanying photo, I asked him to stand in a precise spot where a shadow appeared in the landscape behind him. In that he was directly illuminated by the sun, he became three-dimensional because of the light. Use light to your advantage!   

In the image of Grand Teton National Park in the fall, I included a great blue heron in the composition. Note how small in the frame it appears yet it’s an integral element within the photo. It simultaneously becomes a focal point while it provides size perspective. The foreground vegetation in the image of the red rocks of Capital Reef National Park gives the viewer a reference as to how immense the three layers of land formations appear.

During one of our sunset sessions in the Serengeti, we came across a lone tree that created an iconic African sunset. In studying it, it reminded me of one of my favorite trees in Zion with regards to shape, but the one in Zion is a lot smaller. The thought that kept spinning through my head was how can I show the true size of this beautiful tree? As if the photo Gods answered, along strolled two wildebeests and I snapped off five images.

Man and manmade objects are a standard to show size relationships. In the photo of the volcanic cone at sunrise, serendipity occurred. While cruising the waters of a passage in Alaska, along came a fisherman as if he knew where in my composition the mountain appeared so I could place him in the rule of thirds. Additionally, I was thankful he chose to wear a red rain suit even though it wasn’t raining!

With the above being said, sometimes it’s good to not include a reference point. It may be the intent of the photographer to distort reality or simply try to make an abstract. Close-up shots of waterfalls or cascades are often used for this purpose. The viewer is left wondering just how big the falls are. The important aspect is to get you to know how to create scale should you need to.

To learn more about this subject, join me on a photo safari to Tanzania. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com to get more information.

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Sunday, November 28, 2021

Photo By Garry Everett

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Crane Stretch” by Garry Everett. Location: Sacramento Valley, California.

“The middle of fall signals the return of the various migratory species that spend their winter in the Sacramento Valley,” explains Everett. “This pair of sandhill cranes were stretching their wings in the sunrise light, preparing themselves for a day of foraging in the surrounding fields.”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Saturday, November 27, 2021

Photo By Christopher Baker

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Autumn Fog” by Christopher Baker. Location: Near Triana, Alabama.

“A calm, cool morning along Barren Fork Creek near the Tennessee River,” describes Baker.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Friday, November 26, 2021

Photo By Rebecca Wilks

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Flight” by Rebecca Wilks. Location: Death Valley National Park, California.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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You are probably familiar with color management if you’ve spent any time on photography or videography. We have all taken photos, ordered prints and noticed that they have a flaw, like a green cast. “That’s not what it looked like when I shot the photo!” is the most common reaction. Nobody wants unattractive skin tones; not in their personal photos, and certainly not in their professional work.

Color Management is technology designed to minimize color and brightness inaccuracies. To a certain extent, color management attempts to simulate the brain and corrects the raw data coming from the sensor in order to match the feeling of human perception more closely. It can do even more than just that. While a human being represents a closed system “more or less”, where everything is finely tuned, this is not the case with modern technology. We combine input devices (cameras, smartphones, etc.) and output devices (monitors, printers, etc.), without considering that each device has a different range of capabilities to capture or display colors. Different papers also have their own reflective properties in prints.

All devices must be coordinated with each other to prevent any unpleasant surprises. This is why color management is necessary to achieve consistent color across devices and outputs.

Color Control

High-quality color control that is time and cost efficient is almost impossible to achieve without color management tools. Anyone who has ever set up their printer for fine art prints and ended up using an entire ink cartridge and a lot of high-quality paper for test prints will understand this. The concept of color management involves coordinating systems so that once taken, the image on the output side (monitor, printer or other output device) appears as close to the original as possible. This also includes deliberate changes made to image content. In other words, photographic editing needs to be reproduced on the output side as it was originally carried out. Why? Depending on the make and model, digital cameras have different color characteristics that can be corrected using a color calibration tool.

We can influence the appearance of the digital image on the display. Without corrections, we see an interpretation of the image that may not be representative of its true colors. This is determined by the electronic components of the display and its age. It can get even more tricky when it comes to printing images on paper.

 The Eye Is Not Enough

In short, we are moving between physical worlds of color. We can work with several devices, which each individually interpret the colors for us. If you rely solely on the expertise of your eye and make adjustments according to your vision, you will very quickly reach your limits. Every additional device included in a color workflow will heighten the complexity. To add to this, color variations don’t behave in a linear fashion, but differ according to saturation level and the shade of color.

You’ll notice how fast your eye compensates for color casts, such as when you change the color profile on your monitor. Our brain adapts for the brightest white in the field of vision. This phenomenon is called color constancy. It means we can’t trust our eye to tell us if a display is neutral, as our brain may have “neutralized” it for us. These are just some of the many reasons why you should have a color managed workflow to achieve your intended creative vision.

Sample representation of color temperatures: An image with daylight lighting (6500K), fluorescent, and incandescent lighting.

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Thursday, November 25, 2021

Photo By Wendy Gedack

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Explore Every Moment” by Wendy Gedack. Location: San Juan Mountains, Colorado.

“This image was taken of Mt. Sneffels in the San Juan Mountain area outside of Ridgway, Colorado, as the dramatic clouds moved into the area and danced around this majestic mountain,” explains Gedack. “I’m motivated every year to return to this area to view and photograph the amazing light and colors of fall. Its ever-changing atmosphere draws me to this place in hopes of capturing the essence of this place.”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Congratulations to James Day for winning the recent Scale photography assignment with the image, “Climbing Mont Blanc.” See more of Day’s photography at www.jdaypix.com.

View the winning image and a selection of submissions in the gallery below. And be sure to check out our current photography assignment here and enter your best shots!

[See image gallery at www.outdoorphotographer.com]

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Photo By mrfaucher

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Great Horned Owl” by mrfaucher. Location: Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

“This great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) was encountered in the woods along the Swanson River, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska,” describes mrfaucher.

Nikon D300, Nikon 70-200mm @ 200mm. Exposure: 1/250 sec., f/7.1, ISO 400.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Red Rock Winter” by Valerie Millett. Location: Coconino National Forest, Arizona.

Photo By Valerie Millett

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Red Rock Winter” by Valerie Millett. Location: Coconino National Forest, Arizona.

Photo of the Day is chosen from various OP galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and the OP Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the OP website homepage, FacebookTwitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Photo By Cate Hotchkiss

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Of Fog and Light” by Cate Hotchkiss. Location: Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

The post Photo Of The Day By Cate Hotchkiss appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.



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Needles Overlook above Indian Creek Canyon, Utah. Another example of why you want to wait for a turbulent weather pattern before you head into the field. The summer monsoon season on the Colorado Plateau always presents great opportunities for dynamic compositions, but I certainly couldn’t have imagined my luck when I watched this rainbow appear just before sunset. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

If someone had told you before COVID that you soon wouldn’t be able to travel to any of your favorite overseas photo locations and all the workshops you were signed up for would soon be canceled, you probably would have scratched your head trying to figure out what kind of calamity could possibly shut down all international airline travel. Perhaps worldwide volcanic eruptions filling the skies with ash or the laws of physics and aerodynamics suddenly being revoked? If you spent enough time mulling it over, however, the word “pandemic” might have crept into your mind. We’ve all seen those horror films about a deadly virus sweeping the globe and laying waste to its human inhabitants, but wasn’t that something that only happened in the movies?

As events began to unfold, we all discovered that we were now cast members in our very own horror show about the most challenging worldwide pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1918. We stared in disbelief as toilet paper flew off the racks and bottles of hand sanitizer—if you could find one—sold for $50 each as long lines of people in surgical masks queued up outside grocery stores ready to do battle to claim the last bottle. We learned new terms such as “essential workers,” and I, as a photography workshop leader, discovered that I wasn’t among their ranks.

When traveling through a visually stunning region such as Canyonlands National Park, with all that tremendous, monumental scenery around you, it’s always a good idea to simply look down at what’s right under your feet. The constantly shifting muddy patterns along the water’s edge provide an endless variety of compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

My wife, Susie, and I were lucky enough to watch the pandemic unfold in slow motion from halfway around the world in the safe harbor of New Zealand. We flew to Christchurch to conduct our summer workshop on January 18, 2020, within hours of the first verified case being reported here in the US. On February 3, New Zealand banned all flights from China, and the number of visitors plummeted. For the next two months, with virtually zero local cases, everyone was going about their business, as usual, as we watched the rest of the world melt down around us. As New Zealand began to see cases pop up as the pandemic intensified, we caught one of the last flights out of the country on March 26, the day it went into full nationwide lockdown. At the Auckland airport, our voices echoed along empty corridors, and we were the only two people in sight at the United security check in LAX.

We arrived home to empty streets and stripped store shelves and began canceling our workshops for the remainder of the year. Once the dust settled and we began to adjust to our new normal, which included lots of free time on our hands, I started thinking about how we could get back out into the world safely. In our rural location, it made no sense to hide at home, pacing the floor, waiting for herd immunity to kick in. The world was still out there, and all we needed to do was devise a way to experience it without exposing ourselves to the virus or transmitting it to others. The goal was simple: avoid airplanes, hotels, restaurants and crowds in general and travel by road in a totally self-contained manner.

Spring Canyon, Waterpocket Fold, Capitol Reef National Park. With a virtually unlimited number of deep canyons to choose from along the 100-mile length of the Waterpocket Fold and few crowds to jostle with, Capitol Reef is an easy place to find solitude and discover new compositions far from the cliché shots in most of Utah’s other national parks. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

We soon discovered that the location where we built our home was an ideal place to ride out a pandemic. We were surrounded by mountains and could start hiking from our front door without another person in sight. In addition to the beautiful mountains around us, we originally chose to live in northern Utah precisely for the easy access it provided to most of the American West’s choice photography locations. If I began driving in the morning, I could set up my tripod at sunset in Glacier National Park, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, the Colorado Rockies, the Grand Canyon or any of Utah’s five national parks. This makes my life as a photographer rather convenient, but even if you don’t live in a location that presents so many varied choices, everyone lives within a short walk or a day’s drive of photo-worthy destinations.

Photography Near Home

With our dance cards now completely open, I began to sketch out an itinerary for both day trips and extended photo excursions, all within a four- to six-hour drive to places I knew wouldn’t be overrun with people. Once supplied with food and other provisions, I’d be more at risk of catching the virus simply by staying home and going to the grocery store.

The soft, eroded shales of the Blue Hills provide a wonderful foreground for the sandstone formations of Capitol Reef National Park in the distance. A long lens compressed the scene, and converting it to black and white provided the most dramatic result. The vast landscapes of the Capitol Reef region, with its tremendous diversity of geologic formations, provide unlimited vantage points for unique compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

I’ve been fully occupied for the last eight years with our workshop travel schedule, so I haven’t had many opportunities to explore and photograph new locations in the West. The pandemic was providing me a chance to both explore these new areas and revisit familiar places, many of which I hadn’t photographed in over a decade.

With virus cases ramping up in summer, we initially stuck close to home in Utah’s Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, where we could spend the day in the backcountry with few people in sight. We climbed a number of peaks, including Twin Peaks and Mount Timpanogos, with their stellar wildflower displays. The last time I photographed these flower-filled meadows was more than 20 years ago.

As summer slid into autumn, we traveled north to the Wind River and Teton Range in Wyoming as the pandemic crowds of July and August began to thin out. The last time I photographed fall colors in the Tetons was in the 1990s, so we both relished the chance to revisit one of our favorite locations on Earth at the ideal time of year. We arrived late in the day, trolled the campgrounds and actually found an available site, where we established a base camp for the next two weeks. Completely self-contained with all the food and provisions we’d need, we were able to avoid crowds in hotels, restaurants and stores. A couple days after we arrived, the horrific wildfire smoke that had smothered the West for the previous six weeks finally blew out and was replaced by a fresh dusting of snow on the peaks, with autumn colors below.

Coyote Gulch, Escalante Canyons. Without the small, perennial stream that flows through this canyon, there would be far fewer new opportunities for photography. Even though I’ve walked this stretch of canyon many times, the constantly changing patterns along the sandy streambed always create new compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

Once the trees shed their leaves in the mountains, we turned our attention to the sweeping vistas and narrow canyons of southern Utah, with October’s warm days and cool, crisp nights. Even during normal times, as long as you steer clear of Moab, Arches and Zion—which had been teeming with visitors since April—you can always avoid the mobs in Capitol Reef National Park, the Maze district of Canyonlands, the Escalante Canyons and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

A Fresh Look At The Familiar

Over the past 30 years, I’ve spent more time photographing southern Utah and am more familiar with its sliced and diced geography than any other region on the planet. When returning to a familiar haunt, my goal is always to try to see it with fresh eyes and to avoid simply gravitating to those exact spots that I’ve photographed before. Sure, if spectacular sky conditions present themselves, and I know the perfect viewpoint for a great composition, I’ll take advantage of it. But with thousands of miles of canyons and overlooks to choose from, you can always find new terrain to explore.

When trying to re-imagine a familiar place, one strategy is to visit during a different season than you have in the past or during a stormy period, which transforms any familiar landscape into something new and exciting. Dramatic sky conditions always play a crucial role in creating compelling landscape images. Avoid weather patterns dominated by high-pressure systems with blank blue skies, which always look the same. Instead, wait for a storm cycle with waves of clouds interspersed with sun, rain and shafts of sunlight beaming through those clouds. Bad weather may keep you pinned down much of the time, but short breaks between storms can provide sky conditions for powerful compositions. This is precisely how I’ve captured many of my most memorable images over the years.

This is an excellent example of why you want to avoid high-pressure, blank-sky weather patterns when you venture into the field. I’ve traveled past this scene on the Green River in Canyonlands National Park on many occasions, but until this trip, I never bothered digging out my camera gear. It’s these fleeting moments that can result in the most dramatic compositions. Thirty minutes later, the clouds were gone. Canon EOS 5D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

If you usually process your images in color, another way to see familiar locations with fresh eyes is to begin searching for black-and-white compositions. Once you understand what to look for, black-and-white photography will provide you with an entirely new motivation to revisit all your old photo spots to see them from a completely different point of view. Lighting conditions and compositions that may be mundane in color have the potential to provide dramatic results when converted to monochrome. It takes some experience surveying a scene to know that it has the potential to produce a compelling black-and-white conversion. The best way to figure this out is to get on your computer at home to convert some of your favorite past color images. You’ll quickly learn which ones work well and which don’t. Good monochrome compositions need a wide range of tonalities, from deep black to bright white, and should have simple, clean lines without a lot of clutter. Once you begin to get a feel for it, you’ll be ready to know what to look for in the field.

Another approach is to try changing up your camera format. If you’ve never stitched multiple images together to create a panorama, pick up a nodal rail and leveling head and return to those old familiar locations to see how they look now. Discover that when you start looking around for those long, narrow compositions instead of the familiar 1:1.5 ratio, you begin seeing familiar places in a whole new way and find compositions you never saw before. You’ll also learn how some locations, such as the Teton Range, suit themselves best to a panorama format.

This small waterfall along Coyote Gulch in the Escalante Canyons provides an almost unlimited number of angles and compositions to choose from, with its variety of different levels, pools and pour-offs. As many times as I’ve returned here, I always come away with new angles and compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

You could also try shooting video. If that sounds too complicated on your big camera, it’s really simple on your iPhone. The latest models include slow motion, time lapse and built-in editing software along with tremendous resolution capabilities. Looking for motion instead of stills will also cause you to see a familiar place in a new way. Video can be addicting, to the point where you may temporarily lose interest in still photography. You may even discover that you’re really good at it thanks to all of your experience composing still images over the years. When you start looking, you’ll begin seeing a lot of motion out there, most of it associated with the various forms and phases of water, such as waterfalls, rapids, ocean waves, clouds floating by or windblown grasses.

By the time this article is published, the vaccines should be beginning to make a real dent in the pandemic, but it will likely be many months until our lives return to “normal,” with borders slowly opening and everyone jumping on airplanes again. In the meantime, take this opportunity to get to know your old, familiar photo locations from a new point of view. This exercise will make you an even better photographer the next time you travel overseas to an exciting new destination.

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Needles Overlook above Indian Creek Canyon, Utah. Another example of why you want to wait for a turbulent weather pattern before you head into the field. The summer monsoon season on the Colorado Plateau always presents great opportunities for dynamic compositions, but I certainly couldn’t have imagined my luck when I watched this rainbow appear just before sunset. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

If someone had told you before COVID that you soon wouldn’t be able to travel to any of your favorite overseas photo locations and all the workshops you were signed up for would soon be canceled, you probably would have scratched your head trying to figure out what kind of calamity could possibly shut down all international airline travel. Perhaps worldwide volcanic eruptions filling the skies with ash or the laws of physics and aerodynamics suddenly being revoked? If you spent enough time mulling it over, however, the word “pandemic” might have crept into your mind. We’ve all seen those horror films about a deadly virus sweeping the globe and laying waste to its human inhabitants, but wasn’t that something that only happened in the movies?

As events began to unfold, we all discovered that we were now cast members in our very own horror show about the most challenging worldwide pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1918. We stared in disbelief as toilet paper flew off the racks and bottles of hand sanitizer—if you could find one—sold for $50 each as long lines of people in surgical masks queued up outside grocery stores ready to do battle to claim the last bottle. We learned new terms such as “essential workers,” and I, as a photography workshop leader, discovered that I wasn’t among their ranks.

When traveling through a visually stunning region such as Canyonlands National Park, with all that tremendous, monumental scenery around you, it’s always a good idea to simply look down at what’s right under your feet. The constantly shifting muddy patterns along the water’s edge provide an endless variety of compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

My wife, Susie, and I were lucky enough to watch the pandemic unfold in slow motion from halfway around the world in the safe harbor of New Zealand. We flew to Christchurch to conduct our summer workshop on January 18, 2020, within hours of the first verified case being reported here in the US. On February 3, New Zealand banned all flights from China, and the number of visitors plummeted. For the next two months, with virtually zero local cases, everyone was going about their business, as usual, as we watched the rest of the world melt down around us. As New Zealand began to see cases pop up as the pandemic intensified, we caught one of the last flights out of the country on March 26, the day it went into full nationwide lockdown. At the Auckland airport, our voices echoed along empty corridors, and we were the only two people in sight at the United security check in LAX.

We arrived home to empty streets and stripped store shelves and began canceling our workshops for the remainder of the year. Once the dust settled and we began to adjust to our new normal, which included lots of free time on our hands, I started thinking about how we could get back out into the world safely. In our rural location, it made no sense to hide at home, pacing the floor, waiting for herd immunity to kick in. The world was still out there, and all we needed to do was devise a way to experience it without exposing ourselves to the virus or transmitting it to others. The goal was simple: avoid airplanes, hotels, restaurants and crowds in general and travel by road in a totally self-contained manner.

Spring Canyon, Waterpocket Fold, Capitol Reef National Park. With a virtually unlimited number of deep canyons to choose from along the 100-mile length of the Waterpocket Fold and few crowds to jostle with, Capitol Reef is an easy place to find solitude and discover new compositions far from the cliché shots in most of Utah’s other national parks. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

We soon discovered that the location where we built our home was an ideal place to ride out a pandemic. We were surrounded by mountains and could start hiking from our front door without another person in sight. In addition to the beautiful mountains around us, we originally chose to live in northern Utah precisely for the easy access it provided to most of the American West’s choice photography locations. If I began driving in the morning, I could set up my tripod at sunset in Glacier National Park, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, the Colorado Rockies, the Grand Canyon or any of Utah’s five national parks. This makes my life as a photographer rather convenient, but even if you don’t live in a location that presents so many varied choices, everyone lives within a short walk or a day’s drive of photo-worthy destinations.

Photography Near Home

With our dance cards now completely open, I began to sketch out an itinerary for both day trips and extended photo excursions, all within a four- to six-hour drive to places I knew wouldn’t be overrun with people. Once supplied with food and other provisions, I’d be more at risk of catching the virus simply by staying home and going to the grocery store.

The soft, eroded shales of the Blue Hills provide a wonderful foreground for the sandstone formations of Capitol Reef National Park in the distance. A long lens compressed the scene, and converting it to black and white provided the most dramatic result. The vast landscapes of the Capitol Reef region, with its tremendous diversity of geologic formations, provide unlimited vantage points for unique compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

I’ve been fully occupied for the last eight years with our workshop travel schedule, so I haven’t had many opportunities to explore and photograph new locations in the West. The pandemic was providing me a chance to both explore these new areas and revisit familiar places, many of which I hadn’t photographed in over a decade.

With virus cases ramping up in summer, we initially stuck close to home in Utah’s Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, where we could spend the day in the backcountry with few people in sight. We climbed a number of peaks, including Twin Peaks and Mount Timpanogos, with their stellar wildflower displays. The last time I photographed these flower-filled meadows was more than 20 years ago.

As summer slid into autumn, we traveled north to the Wind River and Teton Range in Wyoming as the pandemic crowds of July and August began to thin out. The last time I photographed fall colors in the Tetons was in the 1990s, so we both relished the chance to revisit one of our favorite locations on Earth at the ideal time of year. We arrived late in the day, trolled the campgrounds and actually found an available site, where we established a base camp for the next two weeks. Completely self-contained with all the food and provisions we’d need, we were able to avoid crowds in hotels, restaurants and stores. A couple days after we arrived, the horrific wildfire smoke that had smothered the West for the previous six weeks finally blew out and was replaced by a fresh dusting of snow on the peaks, with autumn colors below.

Coyote Gulch, Escalante Canyons. Without the small, perennial stream that flows through this canyon, there would be far fewer new opportunities for photography. Even though I’ve walked this stretch of canyon many times, the constantly changing patterns along the sandy streambed always create new compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

Once the trees shed their leaves in the mountains, we turned our attention to the sweeping vistas and narrow canyons of southern Utah, with October’s warm days and cool, crisp nights. Even during normal times, as long as you steer clear of Moab, Arches and Zion—which had been teeming with visitors since April—you can always avoid the mobs in Capitol Reef National Park, the Maze district of Canyonlands, the Escalante Canyons and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

A Fresh Look At The Familiar

Over the past 30 years, I’ve spent more time photographing southern Utah and am more familiar with its sliced and diced geography than any other region on the planet. When returning to a familiar haunt, my goal is always to try to see it with fresh eyes and to avoid simply gravitating to those exact spots that I’ve photographed before. Sure, if spectacular sky conditions present themselves, and I know the perfect viewpoint for a great composition, I’ll take advantage of it. But with thousands of miles of canyons and overlooks to choose from, you can always find new terrain to explore.

When trying to re-imagine a familiar place, one strategy is to visit during a different season than you have in the past or during a stormy period, which transforms any familiar landscape into something new and exciting. Dramatic sky conditions always play a crucial role in creating compelling landscape images. Avoid weather patterns dominated by high-pressure systems with blank blue skies, which always look the same. Instead, wait for a storm cycle with waves of clouds interspersed with sun, rain and shafts of sunlight beaming through those clouds. Bad weather may keep you pinned down much of the time, but short breaks between storms can provide sky conditions for powerful compositions. This is precisely how I’ve captured many of my most memorable images over the years.

This is an excellent example of why you want to avoid high-pressure, blank-sky weather patterns when you venture into the field. I’ve traveled past this scene on the Green River in Canyonlands National Park on many occasions, but until this trip, I never bothered digging out my camera gear. It’s these fleeting moments that can result in the most dramatic compositions. Thirty minutes later, the clouds were gone. Canon EOS 5D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

If you usually process your images in color, another way to see familiar locations with fresh eyes is to begin searching for black-and-white compositions. Once you understand what to look for, black-and-white photography will provide you with an entirely new motivation to revisit all your old photo spots to see them from a completely different point of view. Lighting conditions and compositions that may be mundane in color have the potential to provide dramatic results when converted to monochrome. It takes some experience surveying a scene to know that it has the potential to produce a compelling black-and-white conversion. The best way to figure this out is to get on your computer at home to convert some of your favorite past color images. You’ll quickly learn which ones work well and which don’t. Good monochrome compositions need a wide range of tonalities, from deep black to bright white, and should have simple, clean lines without a lot of clutter. Once you begin to get a feel for it, you’ll be ready to know what to look for in the field.

Another approach is to try changing up your camera format. If you’ve never stitched multiple images together to create a panorama, pick up a nodal rail and leveling head and return to those old familiar locations to see how they look now. Discover that when you start looking around for those long, narrow compositions instead of the familiar 1:1.5 ratio, you begin seeing familiar places in a whole new way and find compositions you never saw before. You’ll also learn how some locations, such as the Teton Range, suit themselves best to a panorama format.

This small waterfall along Coyote Gulch in the Escalante Canyons provides an almost unlimited number of angles and compositions to choose from, with its variety of different levels, pools and pour-offs. As many times as I’ve returned here, I always come away with new angles and compositions. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Acratech Ultimate ball head.

You could also try shooting video. If that sounds too complicated on your big camera, it’s really simple on your iPhone. The latest models include slow motion, time lapse and built-in editing software along with tremendous resolution capabilities. Looking for motion instead of stills will also cause you to see a familiar place in a new way. Video can be addicting, to the point where you may temporarily lose interest in still photography. You may even discover that you’re really good at it thanks to all of your experience composing still images over the years. When you start looking, you’ll begin seeing a lot of motion out there, most of it associated with the various forms and phases of water, such as waterfalls, rapids, ocean waves, clouds floating by or windblown grasses.

By the time this article is published, the vaccines should be beginning to make a real dent in the pandemic, but it will likely be many months until our lives return to “normal,” with borders slowly opening and everyone jumping on airplanes again. In the meantime, take this opportunity to get to know your old, familiar photo locations from a new point of view. This exercise will make you an even better photographer the next time you travel overseas to an exciting new destination.

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Explore the world of wildlife without even leaving your screen with this slideshow of 20 images of wildlife. From big cats and bears to penguins and pine martens, join us in celebrating the work of these incredible wildlife photographers. 

Looking to improve your wildlife photography skills? See what opportunities are available for fall wildlife, get ready for winter wildlife photography and check out our guide of the best cameras for wildlife photography. 

[See image gallery at www.outdoorphotographer.com]

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Monday, November 22, 2021

Photo By Stan Bysshe

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Foggy Fall Morning” by Stan Bysshe. Location: Virginia.

“A great blue heron touching down on a foggy morning in a Virginia wetlands park,” describes Bysshe.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Have you considered taking a photo tour or safari but aren’t sure if it’s worth the time, money and effort? There are many things to consider before making such a commitment, so let’s take a look at the factors that are generally at the top of everyone’s concerns.

Money

Yes, a photo tour/safari will cost more than if you go by yourself. But at what price do you realize it’s worth the extra dollars to come home with the best possible shots? As with any photo trip, the goal is to come back with wonderful images. If you do not accomplish this because you didn’t know where to be at what time and what to do if the light wasn’t the best, you may have saved a few bucks but fell short of the goal. A good tour leader will have visited the location multiple times under varying kinds of light and should know where to be given a specific condition. He or she should also know where the iconic images reside, how long it takes to drive or hike to each, how crowded they may be and how they may have changed over the years. You’re paying a fee to get their experience, knowledge, expertise and to maximize your time and efficiency in the field.

The Dynamics

If you love the camaraderie of other photographers and enjoy talking shop for long periods of time, then a photo tour/safari is a good fit. If you want to absorb information and learn by modeling others, go on a tour. If being around people whose purpose is the same as yours is important, it’s all about the tour.

Am I Ready For A Photo Tour? 

How well do you know your equipment? Did you just buy a new camera and expect to be shown its ins and outs while on a photo tour? This being the case, you won’t get the full benefit. In order to get the most out of any photographic experience, know how to work your camera. Light changes quickly and wildlife constantly moves. Neither wait while you read your manual. Wildlife doesn’t hold a pose if you’re adjusting a setting. The rainbow doesn’t remain vibrant while you look for your polarizer that you can’t find because you haven’t developed an organized system.

Do I Have The Proper Gear?

A good tour leader will have a full equipment list of what to bring based on potential subjects throughout the trip. Is it just scenics? Is there wildlife in the area and you may also need a long telephoto? What filters will you need? Will flash be an asset? If it’s travel to a foreign country, what’s the power source and what adapters do you need? What about a backup camera body, extra batteries and chargers, memory cards, flashlight, your camera manual, cable release, etc. All these items have been researched and covered so you don’t encounter any surprises upon arrival.

Where Do I Go? 

Are you a wildlife or scenic shooter? Maybe you do both. Knowing what you want to come home with is important. Some photo tours are geared specifically toward photographing animals while others are scenery-based. What subject matter do you prefer? Maybe a tour that offers both is what you want? Sign up for one that matches your photographic goal.

If you decide a photo tour or safari is a great fit, make sure the leader’s style matches yours, by asking about the following:  

  • Does the leader simply bring you to the good locations or does on-site teaching occur?
  • Does the teacher share compositions and framing of an image?
  • What occurs if the weather is inclement and you can’t go out to shoot?
  • Does the leader provide a list of necessary gear?
  • Does the cost include transportation from the point of origination or are you expected to take your own vehicle?
  • What’s the maximum number of participants? This is important if you expect to be given help during the tour.
  • Does the cost of the tour include fees into parks, locations and events?
  • Is downtime given to catch up, download and edit files? For how long do the sunrise and sunset sessions last?
  • Does the leader know what to shoot if the weather is overcast so you come home with the best possible photos?
  • Does the leader know the positions of sunrise and sunset relative to the time of year the tour runs?
  • Does the leader know where to be to get the best sun angles?
  • How strenuous is the photo tour? Am I physically fit?

To learn more about this subject, join me on a photo safari to Tanzania. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com to get more information.

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